Hello there.
Happy New Year. This one’s just a quickie to round things off. It’s now 2024. I’m sat by the Christmas Tree, which will have to come down tomorrow and leave its usual gaping hole. Replaced by a patch of untwinkling reality. A bleak slice of January, right there in the living room. But you can’t leave it up. I’m not one for the mystical, I don’t believe in luck or curses if you don’t get it down by Twelfth Night, but a Christmas tree in January is a reminder of what you’ve lost. And to have it up too long makes the whole thing less special (see Glom of Nit 28).
Anyway. 2023. A genuinely transformational year for me. I started January as a newly minted freelancer, wondering if I could pull it off. I had the vaguest of plans – maybe do Edinburgh, write a book, do some music, keep working. That first bit, Edinburgh, ended up swelling to consume most of the year. And this year too, since I’m off on tour for a good chunk of what, back when I worked in real jobs, we used to call “H1”. It’s a year where I left London and moved in with my lovely girlfriend. A year where I learned I could do it on my own. A year where, I think, more less, I settled into who this version of me is. It’s taken five or six years to really work it out. I’ve lost friends, I’ve made friends. I’ve written and written and written, and talked and talked and talked. I’ve ballsed up a few times, but got it right, I think, more than I’ve gotten it wrong.
I really want to say thank you if you’ve been part of this at any point. Whether you’ve bought a book or a ticket, clicked a link, shared this newsletter (please share this newsletter!), passed on a kind word or spared a thought. Commissioned me, booked me, employed me or supported me. Thank you for the chats and the hugs and the support and the faith. It means, honestly, the world. The whole, stinking world.
I never did write a book last year. I’ve written a lot of two (a novel and my book about Nirvana). This year I will hopefully make up for that by finishing at least three (Nirvana, then the sequel to The London Boys and finally … one I can’t talk about just yet. But oh boy, am I excited.) What else will 2024 bring? The tour, of course. Possibly a return to The Fringe. Hopefully new music by the end of the year. That’s quite a lot already isn’t it?
I guess I better get started.
See you soon. Very soon.
Marc
Upcoming live shows and tour dates
The Magic of Terry Pratchett 2024 Tour
More dates to be announced. TICKETS ONSALE HERE.
Want to put the show on? Email Corrie Maguire Management.
Other gigs
23 JAN - We Are Funny Project, Farr’s School of Dancing, Dalston, LONDON (headline set) - Pay What You Want INFO
1 FEB - Angel Comedy LONDON (work in progress w/Juliette Burton and John Robertson) TICKETS
LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL
23 FEB Phoenix LEICESTER - performing hour of stand-up (not Terry Pratchett related) TICKETS
2023 — My year in lists
Quick note on this. I’m not saying these are the best things of the year. I've not experienced all of the culture everywhere in the world. These are just the things I personally enjoyed.
Top 10 films
The Boy and the Heron
Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse
Poor Things (I saw this at the LFF, it’s on general release really soon) MY REVIEW
Barbie
Pearl
The Three Musketeers Part One: D’Artagnan
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
Greatest Days (I seem to be the only person that liked this?) MY REVIEW
Meg 2 (what?! It was a HOOT)
David Homes: The Boy Who Lived
Top 10 TV shows
Doctor Who MY REVIEW OF ‘THE STAR BEAST’ and ‘THE CHURCH AT RUBY ROAD’
Happy Valley
The Last Of Us MY REVIEW
Good Omens 2 MY REVIEW
Succession season 4 FEATURE I WROTE ON SUCCESSION & GRIEF
Star Trek (I’m combining Strange New Worlds 2, Picard 3 and Lower Decks 4 here, as they’ve all been superb. The upcoming, final Discovery season has a hell of a lot to prove.)
Wheel of Time season 2
Star Wars Visions season 2
Nolly
Poker Face
Top 10 Albums of 2023
Smashing Pumpkins – ATUM: a Rock Opera In Three Acts MY REVIEW
Blur – The Book of Darren
FIZZ – The Secret To Life
Tim Arnold – Superconnected
Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Daisy Jones & The Six – Aurora
Romi – Mid Air
The Anchoress – Versions
Nicky Wire – Intimism
Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is But A Dream
My favourite things I’ve written in 2023
I’m aware this is list is quite Terry Pratchett heavy – it’s a bit unavoidable, as people keep asking me to write about him. I also had a PR team for the live show who were pitching me writing articles to help promote the show. I’ve tried to pick out the most interesting ones.
Terry Pratchett related
Remarkable way Terry Pratchett’s lost stories were found by fans: ‘A million-to-one-chance’ (The Big Issue)
'Sir Terry Pratchett's magical work is as relevant as ever - eight years after his death' (The Mirror)
The Second Coming: How did Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman overcome the small matter of Pratchett’s death to make another series of their acclaimed divine comedy? (Radio Times – you’ll need to create a Readly account to read this, it’s free, or you can find it on Apple News+ here, if you have that.)
The delightful surprise of “new” Terry Pratchett stories (New Statesman)
The Unmade Terry Pratchett Movies (and Why They Didn’t Happen) (Den of Geek)
Pop culture and technology
How ChatGPT could turbo charge fake news (The Independent)
The Coronation Playlist is the worst possible celebration of Britain (Big Issue)
Sam Smith’s Brit Awards look is part of a long tradition of brilliant pop ‘attention seeking’ (Big Issue)
Oscars 2023: Why we should celebrate Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (Big Issue)
Louis CK’s sold-out show at Madison Square Garden proves there’s no such thing as cancel culture (Big Issue)
Jayde Adams on how Take That movie Greatest Days captures the ‘intensity of fandom’ (The Big Issue)
Royal Blood should know by now: a bad gig is never the crowd’s fault (New Statesman)
The Future is Bright: The outlook for sci-fi has never been so dazzling. (Radio Times you’ll need to create a Readly account to read this, it’s free, or you can find it on Apple News+ here, if you have that.)
An AI Oasis album? Is this the future of music? (New Statesman)
Rentaghost: Which 90s indie band ripped off a kids TV classic for their one big hit? (Big Issue)
Podcast Appearances
Desert Island Discworld – I interview DID’s Al Kennedy about his career as a podcaster and then we go deep and emotional on The Shepherd’s Crown for the final ever episode of the show.
Bah Humbug – I guest on Helen O’Hara’s excellent Christmas movie podcast to discuss the classic “flop” Santa Claus The Movie.
Copyright Marc Burrows 2023